“I’ve been married for a long time, Cody. I don’t ever count women out. If you don’t mind, I’d like to hear that from her,” he points behind him as he speaks. “There’s another officer here to talk to you.”
My heart stops pounding so hard, and I’m beginning to calm down slightly. When he steps on the porch, I open the door. “Hey, you want me to come out there, or do you want to come inside?”
“Choice is yours. Whatever you prefer.”
“C’mon in, please.” That way Cody can’t hear what I’m saying to him. He can’t try to speak over me, and make me doubt what I’m saying, although I know that I’m being truthful.
He closes the door behind him, and then looks at me closely, eyes worried. “What’s going on here, Magnolia?”
Running a hand through my hair, I pull my bottom lip in between my teeth. “We’re getting divorced, and I had him served with some paperwork this morning. I expected to be out here before they dropped it off, but I fell asleep.”
“What does that paperwork say?”
I go over to my desk and pull out a copy of what he was given today. “It says that he isn’t allowed to come back here. That he’s supposed to stay away, and not block in my car, which is what he’s done previously.”
His brows furrow. “Is he that much of an asshole?”
“You have no idea.” My bottom lip quivers. “I’m really just trying to protect my interests. I’m not trying to be difficult.”
He reaches forward, putting a hand on my shoulder. “If the judge signed off on this, then they believe it to be true. So we’ll enforce it. I’ll let him know he isn’t allowed to be back here. Do you have cameras?”
“I do, I was advised to get them.”
“Good, make sure they’re running, and if you have any more questions, don’t hesitate to ask.”
As he leaves, I take a deep breath. For the first time I’m hopeful that things are going to turn around.
Chapter 7
Levi
The next day, I’m at the station early, because Director Drake wants to have a discussion about what we found. I’m sitting in my SUV, listening to the radio, and that’s when I hear dispatch sending someone to an address that sounds familiar to me.
And then it hits me. It’s Magnolia Grace’s address.
Over the radio I hear my dad’s voice. “Mark me as responding to the address.”
I sit on the edge of my seat, as I’m listening to what’s going on. There have been a bunch of times when I’ve heard my dad’s voice on the radio. It’s never filled me with the amount of anxiety as I’m feeling now. Another voice comes over, and I think it’s dispatch, telling him about the situation.
“She’s saying that her husband was served with papers, and now he’s threatening her. Complainant says that she’s trying to shut the door, but he’s preventing her from doing so.”
Cody is being such an asshole. He’s been one since the moment I met him. I can remember her bringing him home, and introducing him to all of us. I could tell just by looking at him that he wasn’t for her, but I wasn’t in any type of position to tell her what my thoughts were. More than anything, I wish I was the one responding to this situation, I would take him to jail the minute I got there, and keep him there so she wouldn’t have to worry about being safe.
“I’m with the complainant. She says that she’s worried for her safety, which is why she got him served. Officer Kepler is with him, but I’m leaning toward giving him a ticket for not respecting the parameters of the paperwork. Has Officer Kepler run his license?”
“Negative.”
There’s my dad again. “Have Nick run the license, just to make sure there’s no reason for us to take him in.”
I’m crossing my fingers that this dick head is going to be arrested, just so she can have a comfortable rest of the day and night. More than anything, I wish I could text her to see how she’s doing, but then she’ll probably know that I’ve been listening to what’s going on over the radio.
There’s a knock on my window, and I see Dakota standing outside. “Are you listening to what’s happening right now?” he asks.
“Yeah, I’ve been listening for a few minutes. I wish we didn’t have to go in and talk to Director Drake. I’d like to sit out here and see what ends up happening.”
“Me too, because this dude sounds like a fucking asshole.”
“He is,” I agree, as I get out of my SUV, and we walk across the parking lot together.
